Facing Reality
by Callisto-HK
Summary: Sometimes the struggle with supernaturals doesn't end right after the job . Sometimes its effects on the real life is much worse ./Set in season 2 .Rated T for Language ./
1. Chapter 1

"O God , I think that bastard poisoned me ." Dean groaned as they stepped inside their room and threw their duffel bags to their beds .

"What ? Why ?"Sam turned and looked at Dean . Finding him clutching his stomach , he couldn't help laughing ."That thing was a bastard, sure . But it's not fair to blame it for something that your unhealthy diet caused .Those stuff you call food are your only enemies ."

"I'd rather die young ,enjoying my life , then live long turning to a horse little by little ." Dean huffed .

"Ha ha , very funny ."Sam leant on the wall ."So..I don't think you're up to hit any bar tonight . You know, we could celebrate .That bastard was getting really annoying ."

"I guess we should arrange the party for another night . I just wanna sleep , right now ." Dean said as he unlaced his boots .

Sam shook his head ."Ah , come on Dean , you don't even look pale . I'm sure it's nothing .Don't exaggerate ."

"Yeah ,you can say that I'm exaggerating , you're not the one in pain ." Dean sulked .

"Alright , I'm gonna go get some food , you want some real food ?" Sam chuckled .

Dean grimaced ."Like those you eat ? Nah , I'm good ."

"Suit yourself ." Sam shrugged and left the room .

...

Half an hour later when Sam came back to their room , Dean was fast sleep in his clothes .Sam stared at him for some seconds , thinking that maybe Dean needed to see a doctor . But remembering the amount of food Dean had eaten last day , he just rolled his eyes and said "At least he'll learn to don't put that much food in his stomach before a hunt ." with that he took off his shirt and crawled under his blanket .

_'Gosh, I hate waking up in the middle of the night ._'Sam thought as he slowly moved in his bed ._'Ah , specially with this kinda reason .'_ He left his bed finding his way to the bathroom , not bothering to open his eyes .

When he left the bathroom , he could see Dean in dim light, sitting in his bed , head down , breathing rapidly . Sam turned the light on to see what's wrong with Dean .

"Dean ?" Sam frowned . Dean brought his head up ,looking at Sam with weary eyes , pain written all over his face ."Oh man ,something's wrong , you're sweating ."Sam's voice was full of concern .

"You think ?" Dean managed .

"OK, maybe we should take that food poisoning a little more serious ."

"It's not food poisoning , Sam ." Dean didn't care how bad it was , he just didn't want to think or accept that he was feeling that bad just because of some junk food .

"Yeah yeah , whatever , we need to go to the hospital ." Sam said as he started to change his clothes and silently vowed to don't let Dean take any junk food ever again .

...

Driving to the hospital didn't take long , and the ER seemed calm at 4 am ."Good , at least we don't have to wait anymore ." Sam said as they walked toward the receptionist desk .

"Hi , my brother -"

"Hi , My name is Dean Wayne ." Dean glanced at Sam with a look on his face saying _'Man , I'm not a kid , I can talk for myself .'_ "I don't feel so good in my stomach ." he said to the receptionist .

"Well , I can say you're in a lot of pain . " She said and put a form on the desk ."You fill this form ,please , and there will be a nurse helping you for the rest ."

"Thanks ." Dean said and pulled out his card , put it in front of Sam ."You wanna help ? fill the form ." he grinned and walked toward a chair . He really didn't want to admit his illness , but it was worse than any other kind of stomachache and he needed to know what was causing it , so if they couldn't find anything wrong in his system , he would start looking for some supernatural reason and the cure .

"Mr Wayne ." Dean looked up to see a nurse smiling at him .

"That's me ." Dean smiled tiredly .

"I'm Sasha , would you please follow me , so our doctor could examine you ?"

Dean stood up and waited a second to regain his focus , he walked behind her and took a look at Sam ,who was looking up from the papers and nodded toward Dean .

"Please sit here , a doctor will be here within a minute . Ah and please take you Jacket off , or do you need help with that , Mr Wayne ?"

"It's Dean , please . And no , I can handle it .Thanks ." Dean took his jacket off .

"Sure Dean ." she smiled and started to take Dean's blood pressure .

"Mr Wayne . Hi . I'm doctor Reynolds ." An old tall man entered the room ."Pain in stomach , right ?" he said as he looked at Dean's information ."So, how much pain do you feel ? On a scale of 0 to 10 . "

"9 . maybe 9.5 ." Dean replied honestly .

"Umm , Doctor Reynolds , BP is 190 over 120 ." she announced incredulously .

Reynolds looked at her and put his stethoscope on Dean's chest ."O God .How long have you been in pain ?"

"It started around 9 pm . Why ? What's that ?" Dean was starting to feel even more uncomfortable .

"I need to ask you some questions and I need straight answers . Now , have you felt any pain in your chest ? Or any pain even in your stomach in last few days ? Any problem with breathing ? "

Dean thought for some seconds before answering ."No , It was just my stomach , and really , it just started some hours ago . Well , I had some problems with breathing around midnight , But it passed after I don't know , half an hour ."

"Were you in the middle of any hard activity when the pain started or worsened ?"

"No , I was resting in my bed ." Dean replied .

"Mr Wayne , I think there's nothing wrong with your stomach . You're sweating and the blood pressure is too high , I think you're having an unstable angina which usually herald a heart attack . So , I need you to stay still and calm . "Reynolds then looked at Sasha."I need his ECG and fast ."

Dean couldn't believe a simple pain in his stomach could turn into a heart disease, and he just wished it was a simple food poisoning .

"Don't worry . Just try to stay calm , the last thing you need is get panicked ." Reynolds assured ."Whatever it is , we probably found about it soon , which is good ."

_'Yeah , easy for you to say . I still remember the last time I diagnosed with a heart problem .'_ Dean tried to take a deep breath ._'O God , No . Sam . How am I supposed to handle him this time ?'_

"How could this be an angina , I didn't have any pain in my chest ." Dean asked .

" Unfortunately sometimes heart's pain could be mistaken for stomachache and that's why heart attacks happens a lot , cuz patients doesn't take it serious , they usually think it's just a simple food poisoning and it will be fine by a few hours of rest ." Raynolds explained .

"What's .. Dean ? Angina ? Heart ?" Sam stammered .They all turned toward the door , Dean could see all color drained from Sam's face as he heard last couple of sentences . He felt guilty for letting Sam find out about his problem in that way ."Sammy ."

Sasha walked toward him ."Excuse me Sir, you need to wait outside ."

Sam looked at Dean , pleading silently to let him stay ."It's OK , he's my brother , he can stay ."

Sasha nodded and Sam entered the room . "What's going on ?" he asked anxiously .

"I don't know how much you've heard , Son . But I'm afraid your brother is probably suffering from Angina Pectoris . We need to run a few tests to make sure that's the exact problem , so we could decide about the treatments ."

Sam swallowed hard , remembering Dean's last battle with a heart problem and now thinking of his own jokes about the food poisoning made him feel nausea .

Sasha came back to the room with another nurse and the ECG equipment .Reynolds stood beside Dean's bed as they put the leads on his chest and his wrists . Nobody said anything during the test , but looking at Reynolds brow creasing more and more , Dean could easily say this one was a big problem .

"Mr Wayne ."

"Dean , please call me Dean . Apparently I'm gonna stay here more than what I thought ."

Reynolds smiled in pity ."I'm sorry ,but yes . We have to check you in . You already have had a hearth attack , which I think is the one that caused the breathing problem you mentioned earlier .And we need to run a few more tests before starting the treatment . We'll start them after you settled in your room in CCU .I'll see you up there and we'll talk more about your problem then ."

"Yeah , alright ." Dean sighed as Reynolds wrote something down on his chart and left the room .

.

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... **TBC **...

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* * *

_A/N : Hope you like it .._

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	2. Chapter 2

_"Mr Wayne ."_

_"Dean , please call me Dean . Apparently I'm gonna stay here more that what I thought ."_

_Reynolds smiled in pity ."I'm sorry ,but yes , we have to check you in . You already have had an hearth attack , which I think is the one that caused the breathing problem you mentioned earlier .And we need to run a few more tests before starting the treatment . We'll start them after you settled in your room in CCU .I'll see you up there and we'll talk more about your problem then ."_

_"Yeah , alright ." Dean sighed as Reynolds wrote something down on his chart and left the room ._

* * *

Sam joined Dean once he settled in his room . He leaned on a wall ,looking like he was lost in his thoughts and memories .

"Wipe that look from your face . He didn't say I'm gonna die in 2 weeks ." _Yet._ Dean added silently .

Sam looked at Dean ."There's no faith healer this time , Dean ."

"Yeah , thank God for that . Cuz if there was any , we had to stop him again , and I hate to do that . Besides , who said I'm gonna need any faith healer ? It's just an angina ."

"Yeah ? Just ? "Sam was breathing rapidly ." O God , I thought it was food poisoning and .. I should've known , we could get here sooner . I'm sorry Dean..I'm -"

Dean rolled his eyes ."Whoa , whoa ..Sam .First of all , why do you think you should always know every thing ? Second of all , We got here soon enough , I haven't died because of a heart attack , have I ? There was no way to stop things to go this way . Stop blaming yourself . It's not your fault ."

"But what should we do now ?" Sam asked ruefully .

"Waiting for test results ." Dean shrugged .

"We need to run tests to be able to give you the results , you know ." A blond girl entered the room , smiling ."Hi . I'm Katie .I'm your nurse here ."

"Hi Katie ,I'm Dean .I'm gonna be a good patient ." Dean grinned .

"Everybody in this ward already knows that ." she grinned back and looked at Sam ."I'm sorry , but I've to ask you to wait outside , while we work here . You can join your brother once we're done ."

"Can't I just stay here ? I won't say anything ." Sam protested .

"I wish I could help , but no , you can't . You can go downstairs and get some coffee , you clearly need it ." She replied .

"Ah Sam , I'd kill for a coffee right now . Go get that , man ."Dean sighed ." And make sure you'll finish it before coming back , cuz I can't say that I'll behave when I see a cup of coffee in your hand ."

Sam shook his head and left the room with no more words as Reynolds and another old doctor walked into Dean's room .

"Hi Mr Wayne , I'm Chambers , I'm your cardiologist .Doctor Reynolds told me about your case but I still need to ask some questions ." he shook Dean's hand .

"It's OK . Go a head . Ahh , and Katie ?" Dean turned toward her ."Would you please make sure everybody here would call me Dean ? I'm meeting a new guy every hour and I really can't ask all of them to call me Dean instead of Mr Wayne ."

Katie laughed ."Alright , consider it done ."

"OK Dean . I gotta get back to ER . I just wanted to see if you're doing ok here . Doctor Chambers will also answer all your questions . Is there anything I can do for you ?" Reynolds asked .

"O, No thanks , for everything ." Dean shook Reynolds hand before he left the room .

"Alright . You're 27 . And , can you tell me if you have had any kind of infection , bad flu or pneumonia ?"

Dean thought before answering ."Ah well yeah I've had infection and pneumonia , but not recently , and I healed just fine .Besides I've never had any kinda heart problem , or any pain in my chest. "  
_'Well, that's the truth ,since I walked out of the last heart problem totally fine .'_ Dean convinced himself .

Chambers nodded ."What about heart problem in your family ? Does anyone ever suffered from any kind of heart disease ?"

Dean scratched his head ."Not as far as I know ."

"Do you smoke ? Do you have any regular exercise ? "

"No , and no one in my family ever does . And yes , always , doing exercise is part of my life ."

"OK , That's it . Now I'm gonna do a sonogram of your heart , which we call it ECHO -"

"Yeah , yeah Doc .I know what ECHO is. Just do it ." Dean interrupted .

"You do ? Well not everybody knows about this kind of things .What's your job ?" Chambers looked interested .

_'Great , What should I say ? I know because this is not my first time ? '_ "I.. I know about ECHO because I've had this friend who died from a heart disease , I was there with him . "

"Oh , I'm sorry ."

"It's OK . "Dean smiled ."Just if you wanna give me the result , please wait for my brother , I don't wanna be the one who explains the situation for him ."

"As you wish ." he nodded .

...

Half an hour later Sam came back to the ward , all he wanted to do was go inside Dean's room and know what's going on .Right then as if someone was listening to him a nurse approched him."Mr Wayne , I was looking for you . The test is done and Doctor Chambers is waiting for you to talk about your brother's situation ."

Sam's heart skipped a beat , he couldn't stop thinking about last time in Nebraska and couldn't help thinking things were really bad again .He nodded his thanks and entered Dean's room . Dean had a nasal cannula but it wasn't weird for a patient with heart disease , so Sam decided to don't feel bad for that . he hesitantly approached Dean's bed ."You wanted to see me ?"

"Hey , How many coffee did you get ? What took you so long ? Doctor here doesn't have all day , man ." Dean teased .

"I'm here now . What's up . What's wrong ? He's gonna be fine , right ?" Sam couldn't hide the concern in his voice , but he couldn't care any less about it.

"Sorry , he's not the most patient member of the family ." Dean apologized .

Chambers nodded , smiling ."You'd feel the same if you were in his shoes ."

"Well , thank God I'm not . And good for you , cuz I'd be much worse ." Dean confessed ."Now , tell him the good news ."

"The good news ?" Sam's eyes shined .

"Well , I don't know how you call it a good news exactly , but it could be much worse anyway ." Chambers looked at Dean ."Alright here's the news , anyway . Unfortunately the problem is a coronary disease which means coronary arteries can't supply adequate circulation to cardiac muscle and surrounding tissue . This is due to the buildup of fatty deposits and cell-proliferation on their inner walls. There're several alternative treatments for coronary disease , but in your brother's situation the bypass surgery is the best and .. well , kinda the only way to help him , though we need to perform an angiography before anything and if that's possible we wouldn't go to bypass surgery and hopefully angioplasty would be enough ."

"Bypass surgery ?" Sam had heard about it before , but none of them have never been close to this kind of things .

"Yes .To perform heart bypass we graft an artery or vein from elsewhere in the patient's body to the coronary arteries .We usually use the great saphenous vein from the leg ."he defined and then looked at Dean again ." Coronary disease is the most common form of disease affecting the heart and an important cause of premature death . It usually affects people in their old ages and considering your health it looks kinda weird for you to suffer this disease . It seems you're in a good shape and other than your recent heart disease you're quite healthy , which is good , 'cause it means the surgery could go with no complications and with a little rest and some care you'd be able to go back to your usual life in a short time ."

"What about angioplasty ? " Sam asked ,the word '_surgery _' was still echoing in his ears .

"In angioplasty we insert an empty and collapsed balloon on a guide wire into the narrowed location and then inflate it to a fixed size using water pressures. The balloon crushes the fatty deposits, so opening up the blood vessel to improved flow, and the balloon is then collapsed and withdrawn .It's safer than heart bypass , but sometimes it just doesn't work , and like I said , if we could open the artery with angioplasty we would avoid bypass surgery . "

"Bypass or angioplasty , will they affect my activities ? I'm .. I've lots of activities and I need to be able to do them ." Dean needed to know he'll be able to hunt , he couldn't leave everything .

"You sure need to be more careful . Light activities are allowed after surgery , but you need to rest a lot . After a short time you can start your usual activities little by little , but you shouldn't push hard . You need to change your diet and increase plant based foods in that .I assume it won't be necessary to mention that you shouldn't smoke and do exercise ,as you're already on the right side . You need to be under medication to avoid the disease to come back , though ."

"Great , I thought you said I can go back to my usual life in a short time ." Dean complained .

"You'll , you just need to be more careful .That's all ."

"When are you gonna perform the angiography ?" asked Sam .

"I'd like to do it sooner . I'm not gonna lie to you , your heart isn't in a good shape , we can't waste any more time . I have no idea how and why , but it's worsening pretty fast and since I hate to give bad news , I'd prefer to perform the surgery sooner . If you don't have any other question or any problem , Katie will prepare you and we can do that by midday ." Chambers surmised .

Dean nodded ."OK , I think I'm good ."

"Alright then . I'll see you ." and with that Chambers left the room .

"Umm , Katie . Would you please give us some minutes ? " Sam asked .

Dean looked surprised but smiled at Katie as she said "Sure , call me if you need anything ." and left the room .

.

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... **TBC **...

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	3. Chapter 3

_"Umm , Katie . Would you please give us some minutes ? " Sam asked ._

_Dean looked surprised but smiled at Katie as she said "Sure , call me if you need anything ." and left the room ._

* * *

Sam stood there silently .

"If you didn't want to say anything , you could just take a picture and stare at that .Why did you send her out ?" Dean started .

Sam sighed , he was trying hard to ignore the tiredness in Dean's voice , the shallow breathes and the lines of pain on Dean's face which he was trying to hide for Sam's sake ."You sure you wanna do this ?"

"Do what ?"

"This . Surgery ."

"Do I have any other option ?"

"Dean , it's weird . You were more than fine yesterday . And now , you're lying on a bed waiting for a bypass surgery . It should be something supernatural . Maybe you're right , maybe that bastard

had really poisoned you ." Sam said glumly .

"Yeah maybe .But even if the cause is supernatural , it doesn't mean the cure should be supernatural too . Sometimes we just have to go the same way everybody does ." Dean tried to take a deep breath but it seemed impossible . His lungs were already tired of struggling and despite all medication in his system his heart was still beating too fast to be able to pump the blood that his whole body needed .

"I don't give up , though . I'm gonna look for an answer ."

"Alright , do that . But don't look for any kinda of magic or stupid things . You hear me , Sam ? I'm not gonna die here , but if I was , I didn't want you to do anything stupid . Am I understood ?" Dean asked firmly .

"Yes Sir . Clear Sir ."Sam mocked ." Dean ,I know what do you think , but I'm just saying that maybe we could find a antidote , or I don't know if it's a curse , maybe we could reverse it . "

"I'm OK with that . Of course I'd rather get injected than having a surgery ."

"I'm gonna grab my laptop and see if I can learn more about that creature or anything related to any kind of heart disease ."Sam smiled .

"Good , I'm gonna get some sleep .The good point of being sick is you can sleep as much as you want ." Dean grinned .

"I hope you don't regret your own words tomorrow .'Cause if you _go the way everybody does _,"Sam used Dean's exact words ." you need to rest more than what you think .Ah and I'm sure you're

gonna drive me crazy ."

"You know what ? I already regret my words . Go find that antidote and don't come back without that . " Dean shook his hand pointing toward the door .

...

Sam left the hospital and went straight to the motel , he didn't want to waste anytime as he knew it wouldn't take long for Dean to lie on the operating table .He started to check every details again and again , he forgot about time and when he looked at his watch it was half past two ."O my God..O God ."his eyes widened , he jumped and hurried to the hospital , when he got there Dean's room was empty and Katie was making his bed ."Where's he ?" asked Sam , panting .

"Ah , hi . They took him for the angiography ." She smiled .

Sam sat on a chair , closing his eyes ."Damn it . How was he ? Did he say anything ?"

"No he didn't , I mean he didn't leave any message for you . But he was fine . Hey , don't worry , it's not like he's gone for the surgery , he's gonna be back soon ." she assured .

Sam sighed ."You're right . I just wish I was here for him . Is that gonna be hard ?"

"What ? Angiography ? Ah .. Not really . He was sedated before that . They'll insert a thin tube into an artery in his arm or leg and guide it towards the problem area in his heart , then they'll inject a special harmless dye and next a series of x-rays will be taken . Those x-rays will allow doctor to see exactly how blood is flowing in his heart." She explained the process . "There he is ." she smiled and gestured toward the door , where two orderlies pushed Dean's stretcher into the room .

...

"Hey , time to wake up , man ."

'_Sam ? Ah , he's speaking kindly . That's not good .'_ Dean blinked several times and finally managed to keep his eyes open and focus on Sam's face ."What ?"

"What what ?" Sam asked .

"You're staring at me like I'm your wife and I just brought you a baby **and **you're really thankful for that ."

Sam's eyes widened ."You read all of that on my face just in less than a second ? "

"Not a hard thing when I know every line on your face . What's it ?" Dean retorted .

"Nothing , you just have been asleep for too long , I was getting bored ." Sam replied .

"So you decided to wake me up ? You could watch TV ."

"I didn't wake you up ." Sam frowned ."Besides , how many hours you wanna sleep , you're 27 , man , not 87 ."

"Yeah , well I've a heart disease which makes me feel like a 87 year old ." Dean shrugged , or he thought he did .

"Huh , so you remember ."

Dean rolled his eyes ."No , I happened to lose my memory in angiography . Dude it's heart failure , not stroke . How long have I been out ?"

"About 3 hours , which considering your heart condition and the fact that you're under mild sedative , it's completely normal ."

"Maybe you should say it to yourself .So what did the Doc. say ? " Dean inquired .

"You need the bypass surgery ." Sam almost whispered . "Umm , because you have a significant blockage to your left main coronary artery. Nothing but the surgery can help that ."

"Aha , I guess I know that much . When ?"

"First thing tomorrow morning .Doctor Chambers will come and tell us more later today or maybe tomorrow before the surgery." Sam paused ."You're not gonna ask me what did I find today ? Or where were I when I should've been here with you ?"

Dean frowned ."You mean before angiography ? I know where you were and I'm telling you for .. what ? the 100th times? That I'm not a kid who needs his parents by his side every second . And about your research , I thought you'd tell me if you had something ."

"Actually there's something ."Sam rubbed his neck ." I mean this is not the first time that things like this happen in this town. 4 victims had had hearth failure , you know out of nine . Like the other victims ,they died because of blood loss , but the documents say that they had blocked coronary arteries ."

"So this is indeed related to that thing . Good , at least it has nothing to do with my diet ." Dean grinned .

"Well you have to change that anyway . You heard your doctor ."

"No , I'm not . If this is happening to me because of that bastard , it's gonna be over after the surgery and I can go back to my usual life and diet . Oh I can't wait for that ."

"Dean , that thing is the reason , but this isn't something supernatural anymore. It has affected your health and you need to be more careful after this surgery." Sam saw the flash of sorrow in Dean's eyes ."I'm really sorry , if we knew about the poison sooner , we could prevent this from happening . I should've been more careful , it's all my fault . I didn't pay enough attention , I didn't feel like researching , so I just -"

"Sam . Sam . Stop . Enough with self-condemnation . We both underestimate that thing , but what's done is done . "

Sam nodded, though he was still feeling guilty ."I just don't understand how this happened , I mean you're not wounded ."

"I think it could insert the poison with its touch ."Dean considered ." When it grabbed my neck I felt like it was in fire , although it didn't left any scar . So maybe he just poisoned me with that touch ."

"What should we do now ?" Sam asked ruefully .

"Don't worry , you're not gonna leave this town without me ."Dean referred to their almost same experience after hunting the Rawhead . " That surgery will help me . I'm gonna be fine , we just need to take it easy for a while . "

"I'm gonna make sure you'll remember your last sentence two weeks from now ."

"What ? Two weeks ? Man , we'll be on the next hunt by then ."

"Dean ." Sam warned .

"Alright , alright . I'm kidding ." Dean chuckled ."Or maybe not .We'll see about that." he grinned ."Umm , where's Katie? She's my nurse , she's supposed to be by my side ."

"Why ? Do you need anything ? Do you have pain ?" Sam felt worry .

"What ? No . I just wanna see her . She's really hot , you know ." Dean smirked .

Sam stared at Dean incredulously ."Dude , you're sick ."

"Yeah , that's why I'm in a hospital and I've a hot nurse ." he grinned even wider .

"Eww . You do know you can't be with girls for a while , right ? "Sam grimaced .

"What ?" Dean's grin faded ."No food , no alcohol , no hot chick? Damn it , where's my doctor , I'm gonna check myself out . What's the difference between dying from a heart attack or from having no fun ? I can't even do my job , What the hell am I supposed to do ?"

"You can taste a normal life for a short time ." Sam smiled .

"I may have never tasted a normal life before , but I do know it contains food , alcohol and chicks ." Dean huffed ."You're not suggesting me to spend my time reading books and resting on a bed , are you ? 'Cause then I gotta tell you that I'm not gonna live like an old man when I'm not even 30 ." He snarled .

"Dean , believe me , I know it's hard . But like you said we need to take it easy for a while , so you could get back to your usual life . If you push hard you could damage your heart and that gonna be the rest of your life's schedule . "

"This sucks out loud ." Dean gritted out .

"I can't agree more ." Sam nodded ."So ? How do you feel now ?"

"Fine ." Dean replied evenly .

"Yeah , of course you're fine . What was I thinking ." Sam seemed annoyed .

"That's the truth . Feeling fine doesn't mean I'm 100% fine . I'm fine enough to talk , to get pissed off ." he smiled ."To breath ."

"Yeah , through a nasal cannula ." Sam noted .

"So what ?"Dean's eyebrows peaked ." It's a cannula , not ventilator . I'm breathing on my own ."

"It's still annoying ." Sam wrinkled his nose .

"For me it's a blessing ."Dean paused ."I think I'm gonna get some sleep , you better watch TV , cuz unless you'd get bored and I don't like you to wake me up again ."

"I **didn't** wake you up ."

"Yeah , whatever ." Dean grinned and closed his eyes , he was fighting to stay awake for too long and finally he thought it wouldn't harm to rest his eyes .Sooner than Sam had expected he was fast asleep .

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... **TBC **...

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	4. Chapter 4

_A/N : __First of all, I feel I over-explained the surgery in this chapter . I'm sorry if you feel it's boring ,but I was asked to describe the details ._

_Second of all , I gotta say Dean's not gonna be conscious in this chapter . But then again, the whole story is about him , so I thought it won't hurt to have a chapter without hearing his words , if he's still the center of attention ._

_By the way, this whole extending thing and having no conscious Dean in this chapter saved you from a cliffhanger between this chapter and the next one!:D ... OK . There IS a cliffhanger , but at least I can promise you that I won't split the next chapter into two and I'll answer every questions then , so you don't have to wait anymore . Well , the next chapter is gonna be the last one , after all !:D_

_Hope you like this chapter .._ ^_^

* * *

As they were told next morning after Chambers had showed up in Dean's room to talk about the operation and circumstances , he was brought to the operating room .They put him on a operating table and the anesthesiologist injected him some anesthesia and unconsciousness slowly took Dean away from his surroundings .when they put him under ventilator doctor Chambers walked into the room .

"Hey Dave . Your patient is ready ." said the middle aged anesthesiologist .

"Thanks James . "Chambers smiled ."How's everything today ? How's Claudia ?"

"O , She's way better ." James nodded his thanks ."So , why is this young man on the operating table ? Isn't he too young to be diagnosed with CAD ?"

Chambers shook his head ."Tell me about it . The problem is I couldn't find any reason for his problem and that's really bothering me . He doesn't have much time , though . We had to perform the surgery sooner , so I thought we could think about the reason after that , you know ."

"Hmm ." James nodded ."He's ready anyway .Where's your assistant ?"

"Here ." A young man walked in ."Sorry doctor Chambers . I had a patient down in the ER ."

"It's OK Adam . Just make sure you're 100% here .Today I need you to be perfectly concentrated ."

"I'm always concentrated ." Adam grinned ."OK , So this is the young patient , who you're worried about ? I'm ready , let's start the job ." he said cockily . Chambers and James exchanged a look .

"Yeah I can see you're ready ." Chambers shook his head and gestured toward the door . Adam turned to see a young nurse standing there, waiting for him . " Whatever it is , make it short , Adam ."

"Oh . Sure . Sorry . I'll be right back ." Adam walked out of the room .

"Don't say anything James ." Chambers warned .

"He's a damn good assistant , I know . But I think you really need to teach him a lesson or two ."

"Whatever , we should start the work . he'll join us ." Chambers said and stood above Dean's chest . James examined his vitals , blood pressure and oxygen levels one more time and when he nodded , Chambers grabbed a scalpel , putting it on the center of Dean's chest , he pushed it gently down and opened his chest . By the time Chambers was done with opening the sternum and testing Dean's heart , Adam was back and standing opposite him above Dean's chest .Then he turned and opened Dean's leg with another scalpel and made things ready for Chambers to harvest the bypass graft .

Everybody was oddly quiet . Adam was Chambers' assistant for a long time and he could swear he'd never seen him like this before . But taking a look at their patient's face changed his idea about making any sound or starting any discussion in order to lighten the mood .He couldn't put his finger on any special reason , he was just sure that there was something on that face which made them all feel more responsible for his life . Adam just felt like he was again at his first surgery when he couldn't help being worried .

"Heparin ." Chambers' voice brought him back to the room , and he recognized Chambers was done with harvesting the needed vein ._'Yeah , exactly like the first time , I was lost in my thoughts .And man , It took too long this time .'_ Adam silently cursed himself for getting that sensitive all of a sudden .

"Adam , you here with me ? I thought I told you that I need your concentration ." Chambers said evenly .

"Yes . Yes . I'm here .. Sorry ... " Adam gathered himself and helped Chambers to suture a cannula into Dean's heart in his right atrium.

"OK , CPB ." Chambers announced .

A young woman who was the perfusionist established a heart-lung machine , while Chambers connected the pump to Dean's body , inserted another cannula in the ascending aorta for returning oxygenated blood and put an instrument across the aorta to clamp it and separate the systemic circulation from the outflow of his heart .The woman then delivered cardioplegia to stop Dean's heart temporarily .

Chambers and Adam started to sew one end of the graft to the coronary arteries beyond the blockages and the other to the aorta.

Once they finished attaching the graft , Chambers removed the cross-clamp . Giving the heart a mild electric shock , he waited for it to start beating again , but nothing happened .

"Oh , come on ." Chambers frowned .

"Looks like his heart feels better this way ." Adam rolled his eyes , looking at Chambers .

"I'm sure the owner doesn't feel the same . So we'll **make **it start beating ." Chambers gave the heart another shock . "Come on . Don't do this ." he mumbled tiredly when Dean's heart stubbornly refused to work . Chambers repeated the process and waited a few seconds to see the result . This time he was rewarded by a weak beat which was followed by other constant beats .Everybody let out a sigh of relief ."Good .. Good ." Chambers smiled ."OK . Protamine sulfate . And Adam , can you manage the rest ?"

"O Yeah . I've got it ." Adam took Chambers place and started to wire Dean's sternum together , as Chambers left the operating room .

...

In the surgery waiting room Sam was sitting and counting the seconds ,though every one of them was looking like an hour to him. Katie had showed up twice and brought him some coffee , assuring him that everything was gonna be alright . Finally after four and half hours Doctor Chambers stepped outside the OR and walked toward him .

"How's he ?" Sam asked immediately .

"Calm down son . I don't wanna have you on that table next ." Chambers smiled wearily ." The surgery went well . Right now , the rest of the team are stitching the incisions on his chest and his leg and then he'll be moved to ICU .Umm ,you should know there was some complications after the surgery. "He paused ."It was an on-pump surgery which means we stop the heart to sew the graft on the right place . After that we restart the heart but Dean's heart didn't start working instantly . It took some seconds before we finally brought him back ."

Sam felt his heart was gonna jump out of his throat ."What .. What would that cause ? Any permanent damage ?"

"Oh No ,he was still connected to the heart-lung machine . hopefully he's gonna be alright . It's just his heart was weaker than we thought or better to say it got weak too fast . Now I'm optimistic about his situation ,though . You can see him , once they move him to ICU . He's under ventilator and there will be tubes in his chest to drain fluid , we'll remove them once he's awake ."

Sam nodded ."Thanks . You know, for everything ."

"I'm doing my job , son . Besides , I still have some works to do and your brother has a long way to recover ."

"How bad is his pain ?" Sam asked .

"Right now he's under heavy medication so he doesn't feel any pain really , but once he wakes up he's gonna feel it pretty much .We try to minimize the amount of pain , though . "

Sam sighed ,and said thanks again .He waited some more minutes there and finally walked toward his brother's room as a nurse came to lead him .

Dean was lying on the bed his face pale but calm . His chest was covered with bandages ,with some tubes disappearing beneath them . Ventilator was breathing for him ." Huh , now you **ARE **under ventilator . Do you still have anything to say ?" Sam smiled and receiving nothing but silence from Dean he continued ."I thought so ."

...

One day passed and when Dean didn't start to wake up , doctor Chambers was getting seriously worried . He started to check everything once more and finally he decided to run all tests one more time .

"What's wrong doctor ?" Sam asked , his voice was filled with confusion and uncertainty .

"Don't panic , but usually after a bypass surgery the patient wakes up within a few hours and after one day we'll be able to move them to cardiac surgery ward . Dean doesn't show the improvement we expected ."

"So what are you gonna do ?"

"We hoped he would wake up by himself , but now we have to kinda force him to wake up . Then we'll run all tests one more time .Don't worry , we'll find the reason and then we could fix it ."

...

Sam had to wait and see what will happen to Dean ,again . This time was even worse , cuz nobody knew the reason and against every expectations and all works Dean's body was completely unresponsive .

"Sam ?" Chambers' voice made Sam to look up .

"What's up ?" he stood ."Did you find anything ? He's gonna be fine , right ?"

Chambers sat on a chair ."Take a seat , please ." Sam complied ."I'm gonna be honest with you , Sam . Things are really weird here . I can't give you any explanation as I'm sure I have never heard or seen something like this before . "

"What ? What's it ?" This time Sam couldn't help feeling panicky .

"We found out that blockage is coming back but that's not the only problem and definitely not the weird thing .The problem is we found more than one blockage , it seems that all main arteries are blocking ."

Sam was breathing rapidly ."You can help him , right ? There should be some way to help him . Some treatment . Just tell me what could you do for him ."

"I'm really sorry . I asked some other specialists , emailed them , called them , I tried everything . Some of them suggested some ideas and I'm telling you , we tried every single way we could possibly think of . But nothing is working here ." he sighed ."You could still change his hospital , but there's really nothing the other surgeons can do for him in this situation , he's worsening pretty fast . We can't work miracles , son . I'm truly sorry . We managed to bring him back to consciousness , but I'd give him a couple weeks ." Chambers' voice was filled with sympathy .

Sam stared at him . Everything seemed like a terrible deja-vu , even the words were the same . Sam wondered if those words were written in their books or they'd learned them at their college . He nodded , blinking rapidly in order to keep his tears from streaming down his face .He found himself silently pleading and begging for some miracles ,but he didn't stop it ._' You can't do this . Please . I know I've already asked too many times , but that's not my fault that you like __so much __to take him away . Please . He's doing what you want , he's helping people , saving innocents . Is that fair to take him away and leave those bastards to live ? He's given up his own life , his happiness , his everything . Where's his prize ? Where's mine ? You can't do this . I'll stop it . Even if it means to find another faith healer .'_ A gentle hand on his shoulder brought him back to the hospital . He wiped his eyes and looked at Katie .

"I heard the news , I'm sorry . "She said sadly ."Dean's back into his room . He's awake , you can stay with him if you want ."

Sam stood up and waited some seconds , trying to calm himself down ."Thanks Katie . Umm , how's he ? Does he know anything ?"

"Yes , he knows . Doctor Chambers has filled him in ."

Sam nodded his thanks before walking away . Outside Dean's room Sam swallowed hard and walked in _.'Thank God , at least he's not watching daytime TV .'_ ."Dean ."

.

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... **TBC **...

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	5. Chapter 5

_A/N : OK , here's the final chapter .. Hope you like it . :)_

* * *

Outside Dean's room Sam swallowed hard and walked in _.'Thank God , at least he's not watching daytime TV .'_ ."Dean ."

* * *

Dean's eyes opened to slits ."Hey , you look like crap ." His voice was barely audible .

"They should install a mirror on the hospital's ceiling ."

"I know how I look like . I look pale , I probably have bags under my eyes and I still look adorable . " The corners of Dean's lips tipping up into a tired grin .

Sam didn't say anything , he tried to retort , but he couldn't find anything to say .

"Looks like you're gonna leave town without me ." Dean grinned again weakly .

"Dean ." Sam warned , sulking .

"What ? It's fun to repeat a sentence after almost one year ."Dean paused to take a breath ."I hate to tell you this , but I think this is really the way I should go ."He paused again ." I mean it's happening all over again ,and exactly in the same way . It seems like I just postponed it ." he shrugged slightly .

"This is not your deathbed . I'll find some way ." Sam sounded exasperated .

"No you won't ." Dean growled ."You hear me , Sam ? I swear to God , you think about some supernatural way and I'll kill you myself ." he panted , he couldn't take enough air into his lungs even with the help of the cannula .

"Dean ,Calm down , please . It doesn't need to be like the last time , maybe -"

"Maybe what ? Huh Sam ? "Dean's heart rate sped up ." You , of all people , know that in the world of magics and supernaturals, ... Nothing happens the simple way , ... if I survive , it means someone else had died for me ... We learned it the hardest way , but we eventually did . "

Sam bit his lower lip . "I can't give up , Dean . I'll look more , maybe I could find an antidote . You still have two weeks . So please keep fighting , don't give up ."

"I won't Sam , you know it ."Dean closed his eyes and waited for the heavy pain on his chest to subside ." I'd rather die than lose my arm or leg , though . So you better hurry up ."

"I'll bring my laptop here . I'll stay here by your side." Sam smiled .

"Thank Mommy .I was afraid you may leave me alone ." Dean mocked , but then he smiled kindly ."Really . Thanks Sammy , I know how hard is this for you and I don't wanna leave you behind. Just ... Don't get your hopes too high , it'll break you hard if you don't find any way ... and I so can't deal with you like that ."

Sam smiled , though it didn't reach his eyes ."I'll be right back . Don't go any where ."

"I can't promise you anything , those nurses are so persuasive ." Dean mustered a grin as Sam rolled his eyes and walked out .

...

Sam drove Impala to the motel , took a shower and changed his clothes , he felt that he needed to be up for a long research .

In the way back to the hospital , his phone rang , he brought it out , but it wasn't ringing , he listened and suddenly remembered that it was Dean's cell ring tone , rummaging through his pockets he found it and opened it without looking at the screen ."Hello ?"

"Hey Dean ." It was Bobby's voice , he paused and then said."Or Sam . Sam ? Is that you ?"

"Yes Bobby . Hey , what's going on ?"

"That could be my question , right now . I thought I called Dean . Well , I'm sure I called Dean ."Bobby was confused ." What are you doing with his phone ? Tell me he's just taking a shower , and that's why he couldn't answer his phone ."

"Ah . No . "Sam paused , not sure how to reveal the news ."Actually he's in hospital ."

"What ? Why ? What's wrong ?" concern filled Bobby's voice .

Sam explained the situation briefly and said ."Oh Bobby he's dying . Again . And there's nothing I can do , I mean I'm trying here . I do , but I really don't think I can find anything ."

Bobby was silent for pretty long time ."Bobby ? You still there ?"

" Jesus Christ ."Bobby gasped ." Sam listen to me , I know what's going on . I wasn't sure at first , but now I've something about that creature and I think I know what should you do . "

"What ? You mean there's an antidote ?" Sam felt hope started to circuit in his veins .

"No , there's no antidote .There's just one way to save him . Change of blood . They need to change his blood .And twice ." Bobby stated .

"Change of blood ? You sure about it ? I mean it sounds kinda simple ."

"Yes Sam ,I'm sure , and I know how it sounds , but once his veins are clean of that poisoned blood , he'll start to heal . He needed that surgery , changing blood wouldn't help in that stage , but now they should change his blood before his arteries block completely , before it gets too late , again . First time would clean his arteries a little , but the second time is necessary to wipe the poison completely . then he's gonna be fine . You just have to act fast . "

"How ? What am I supposed to do ? Walk in there and tell them to change Dean's blood to save him ? Wouldn't they ask me how did I figured it out or what kinda poison is that ?" Sam asked .

"You're right . OK . Give them my number and tell them to call me , I'll handle it . Just hurry up Sam , he doesn't have much time , it's not like the couple weeks that doctor gave him . "

"What do you mean ? How long ? " Sam asked with fear obvious in his voice .

"Couple of days , maybe less ."Bobby paused ." and I assume you know it's not just about being alive . He needs his legs and arms and he sure needs his vital organs . So , the most I can come out with is one day . I wish you would have called me sooner ."

"You're right , I should've . I just was so distracted that I didn't came to that idea . " Sam apologized .

"I understand , son . I just hope it spread in his body slower than last time ."

"I'll tell them to call you as soon as I get there . Just please , convince them ."

"Count on me ."

"Always . Thanks ." Sam hung up .

...

"I need to see doctor Chambers , it's urgent ." Sam said to Katie as he found her behind the desk in CCU .

"What is it , Sam ?" She asked with concern .

"It's about Dean , please . Just tell me where's he ?"

"I'll page him for you ."

Sam shook his head ."No , no , no . It may take too long . Tell me where I can find him ."

"No Sam , it won't take long . Calm down . He'll be here withing a minute ." She squeezed his shoulder and grabbed the phone .

Sam waited till she hung up and assured him that he's gonna be here soon . Then Sam walked toward Dean's room .

"What's up , man ? " Dean opened his eyes as Sam entered .

"Dean , Bobby called . I told him everything . He knew about the poison . He knew the cure . It's gonna be fine ." Sam said , his voice was shaking with happiness and concern at the same time .

Dean's eyes widened . "What's the cure ? Is there any antidote for that ? " his voice was too weak as breathing was getting harder every minute and even the Oxygen mask couldn't help him anymore , that was just then that Sam realized the cannula was replaced by an Oxygen mask , which meant his situation had worsened during the time that Sam was gone .

Sam licked his lips , saying to himself that everything was going to be alright , cuz they knew how to help Dean now ."No , no antidote . You need to have your blood changed ."

"What ? " Chambers' voice covered Dean's . He was standing by the door frame . "What are you talking about ?"

"Doctor Chambers . That's why I needed to see you . I talked to our family doctor , he's a specialist . Would you please call him ? He's something to tell you ."Sam gave him a card .

Chambers looked down at the card with surprise ."Ah , what was that you said about change of blood ? What's going on here ? "

"Just call him , please . He'll explain everything , we're running out of time ." Sam was trying hard to don't push the man toward the phone and make him call .

"Aright , I'll call him , but - "

"Doctor , please ." Sam clenched his teeth , he so wanted to suffocate the man in front of him .

Chambers waited a little longer and finally left the room to make the call .

"Man , You scared the hell out of him ." Dean chuckled ."I thought you were going to kick his ass any seconds ."

"I'd have done that , if I had to ." Sam confessed .

"OK ? What's this thing with our family doctor ?" Dean asked suspiciously .

Sam defined everything to Dean and by the time he was done , Chambers returned to their room .Sam looked at him worriedly ."So ? Are you gonna do that ?"

"I .. I don't know . We need to run some tests before that . I gotta make sure he's poisoned . We - "

"No ." Sam interrupted him ."We don't have time . Can't you get that ?"

"Sammy ." Dean called calmly and then looked at Chambers ." You don't have any other suggestion , do you ? "

"Umm . No ." Chambers replied after a few seconds .

"So , I'll take my chance . It's my call after all . " Dean shrugged ."Besides , if I'm gonna die anyway , I'd rather try every possible way . I don't have anything to lose . **AND **I don't think changing blood can do any harm at all ."

"If you really want to - "

"I do ." Dean cut him .

"But twice ?" Chambers scratched his head ."That's just weird . I don't understand it ."

"For crying out loud , just do it . Hurry up . " Sam was ready to jump on him .

"OK , OK . I'm going to order everything we need and then we can start it . Just relax ." Chambers said and left the room before Sam could say anything in return .

"Relax ? Would he say the same if it was about his own brother ?" Sam gritted out .

"Dude , chill . It's gonna be alright ."Dean rubbed his chest, the weight on his chest was getting heavier and he wasn't sure how longer he could stand it , it was really overwhelming ." I don't think they have a bed in your size , so stop it before collapsing because of a heart attack ." he taunted , trying to distract himself more than Sam , even for some few seconds .

"I really want to throttle him ." Sam grumbled

Dean grinned ." Just make sure he'll stay alive ,long enough to finish his job ." he said drowsily and closed his eyes .

"I can't get it , he said he tried every way and he didn't try a simple way like changing blood ? Or why he's refusing to do that anyway ." Sam shook his head .

"I guess , by _every way_ he meant every **weird **way . They just hate to see that simple ways could solve the hardest problems ."

.

.

The process started after about an hour , they inserted a transfusion needle in Dean's vein , while at another spot they drained off the toxic blood . Most of it Dean was out , he was too exhausted and drained too stay awake . Finally when the medical team was done with blood changing , they started to run more tests to see how would Dean's body react . Though Chambers was not sure about it , when Dean's condition first had stopped getting worse , then after almost one day it had started to improve and when the arteries responded to medications , he let out a sigh of relief and allowed himself to feel comfort and happy .

.

.

Sam had thought he would never feel relieved again . Dean wasn't out of wood completely , but at least things had started to get better after the blood changing process . The mask on his face had been replaced by a cannula again and he was looking much more comfortable .

"So , when will they release me ? " Dean asked .

"I think you should stay another couple of days . After that you should rest at home and do some light exercises , so your heart and mostly your leg could get better sooner ." Sam answered .

"Right now , I need some help for my back . It sucks to lie down . All I want to do is hit the road and kill some sons of bitches ." Dean panted , his lung was still too weak and it seemed like there wasn't enough air in the room for his body to relax .Whenever he talked more than 5 words at once , his chest would shout for the needed air and sting fiercely .

"You had been through too much , Dean . Even _'__you' _need to take it easy sometimes .By the way , doctor Chambers said chest pain and the pain in your shoulders and upper back are expected after the kinda surgery you had . So , it's not because of lying down .But if it makes you feel any better he also said usually people can resume sexual activity within about 4 weeks and driving after 3 to 8 weeks. "

Dean rolled his eyes ."Thanks for the information ,I feel really better now ._By the way_, I just said I _want _to hunt , doesn't mean I'm gonna do that . Well , unless those bastards knock on our door . "

"Yeah ? Knock on our door to visit you and ask about your health ?"

"No , Just cuz they like to get killed by the best ." Dean taunted back ."Man , would you please get back to the motel and get some rest ? I can't stand your face anymore . "

"Then close your eyes and get some sleep , you don't have to fight so hard to stay awake and see my face ." Sam faked a pout .

"O yeah , and give you the chance to wake me up when you got bored . " Dean nodded .

" _I_ didn't wake you up then . " Sam reiterate .

"You keep repeating that , I know what I saw . " Dean teased .

"You know what ? You won . I'll go back to the motel , at least I'll be far from your smart-ass comments for a while ."

"You can say so but you know you'll miss them ."

"I may admit it, but you should ask me one week from now , cuz I'm sure I'd regret . I'm going to just take a shower .I'll check ourselves out later. We need a more comfortable place to rest . Bobby has offered his place , you know ."

Dean tried to take a deep breath , but his lung and his still weak and painful heart didn't cooperate, so he just accepted the little air that entered his lungs and smiled ."Twist my arm ."

"Please , don't leave here while I'm gone ."

"And leave Katie and the other nurses behind ? Oh no , they don't deserve it ."He smirked ." I'll stay for a little longer ." he mumbled .

"Yeah , yeah , of course . " Sam chuckled as Dean drifted off to sleep . He stared at him for a few more seconds and quietly walked out of the room , happy and thankful for having Dean back .

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**- The End -**

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